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A beautifully formed and exceptionally well-painted globular-shaped Hopi polychrome pottery jar by Nampeyo of Hano, c.1895-1900
The world-renowned Hopi Pottery Matriarch, Nampeyo of Hano (1859-1942) was physically a fairly tiny woman. She stood just under five feet tall, but she is an absolute giant in the history of Native American pottery. Her tremendous Hopi pottery pieces, like this wonderful “Sikyatki-Revival” style globular jar tower head and shoulders above everybody else’s.
And if you want to know specifically why she has such an exalted reputation today, you need look no farther than the particulars of this spectacular jar. This orb-like vessel is a complete artistic jewel; fairly compact in size and completely packed to the rafters with exceptional Nampeyo beauty and quality. This jar is a “textbook” Nampeyo piece, so to speak,
in that it has virtually every single characteristic trait associated with Nampeyo’s work, from its abstracted
“Sikyatki-Revival” style bird and feather design motifs to the exceptional overall quality of the potting, design, painting, long-stroke stone polishing and beautifully executed coal firing and its resulting bright whitish-yellow clay surface to the numerous specific particulars of the superbly-executed painted design itself; a symmetrically-opposed, double four-part layout around the jar’s top and shoulder which is composed of two matching pairs of horizontally-opposed stylized bird’s head wing and feather designs rendered in black and in her characteristic “streaky” red paint.
Above center, a very similarly-shaped and considerably larger globular jar by Nampeyo, c.1885-90 which stands over twice as tall measuring 15 1/2” in height. This smaller 7” jar has a very similar shape, color and the same “monumentality" as its larger sibling.
The interplay between these various applied design elements against the rich, bright, sumptuously creamy whitish-yellow background color of the vessel’s clay body gives the overall design both a marvelous complexity and a distinct sense of lightness. Additionally, the sophisticated and prominent use of “negative” space, the wide open expanse of unpainted, beautifully fired and colored clay gives the piece a very peaceful, Zen-like aspect as well. The glowing bone-white, almost egg-like color of the jar's clay body is well worth a further comment; it is beautiful tangible evidence of Nampeyo's great mastery of the extremely difficult ancient Hopi Sikyatki-era (1375-1625 A.D.) technique of firing pottery with ultra-high temperature burning lignite coal from the Hopi Antelope Mesa. When done properly as it is here, it yields this sumptuous, rich porcelain-like color and gorgeous yellowish-orange firing blushes.
Finally, a further mention of the outstanding quality of the stone-polishing and firing is in order as the jar positively
“glows” from these efforts and the jar also has an extraordinary soft surface feel and texture in the hand as well as
a noteworthy “lightness” of weight due to its finely formed thin vessel walls unlike much Hopi pottery which is usually distinctly thicker-walled and heavier. The globular-shaped, orb-like, high-shouldered jar measures a very nicely-sized
7” in height and it is 7 1/2” in diameter at its widest shoulder point.
“When I first began to paint, I used to go to the ancient village and pick up
pieces of pottery and copy the designs. That is how I learned to paint. But now,
I just close my eyes and see designs and I paint them.”
-Nampeyo
"Mrs. Nampeyo, an acknowledged best Hopi indian woman Pottery maker 1st Mesa Hopiland, Ariz. Sichomovi."
R. Raffius, 1905 photo source and © Keystone-Mast Collection, UCR/California
Museum of Photography, University of California, Riverside
The remarkable stone-polishing on this jar was accomplished possibly using this very polishing stone or another one like it. When she was a young woman, Nampeyo found this centuries-old polishing stone in the ruins of the ancient Hopi pottery-making village of Sikyatki and used it to polish her own pottery for many years.
Later, she gave it as a special gift before her death in 1942 to her then-teenaged Great-Granddaughter, the now-also renowned Hopi potter, Dextra Quotskuyva Nampeyo (1928-2019). Dextra also used it on her pottery and many years later gifted it to her special close friend and ours, the late Santa Fe Native American Arts dealer, Martha Hopkins Struever (1931-2017) , who subsequently gave the stone to us.
Above center, a Sikyatki Polychrome low-profile bowl/jar with stylized bird and feather designs, c. 1500-1600 A.D.
Photo source and © Peabody Museum, Boston MA
Although medium-sized in stature the vessel has a distinct "monumentality" to it; as can be clearly seen from the photos.
One cannot really tell if it is 7” or 17” in height unless you actually see it in person or in relation to other objects.
The vessel is in excellent original vintage condition, especially when you consider its 125-130 or so years of age.
There are some scrapes, and some minor surface abrasions, stains and dings, but there are no cracks, no significant chips
and a thorough examination of the jar under Ultraviolet light reveals no evidence at all of any restoration or overpainting.
This absolutely exquisite pottery vessel is an iconic master piece by an iconic master artist and like its creator this jar
might be somewhat small in stature, but it is tremendous in its artistic, historic and visual impact. On a scale of one to ten, this jar is a twelve, an artistically elegant piece to be highly praised and highly prized, deserving of an honored place in
any collection anywhere.
SOLD
